This invention is in the general field of casino gaming and, more particularly, is an adjunct to the game of twenty one.
Twenty one, also known as blackjack, is a game played at a semicircular table with seven player stations equally spaced on the table's top near an arcuate edge thereof. A player station has an imprint of a circle. A player at the station places cheques, chips, tokens or cash representative of a wager within the circle. A dealer is positioned near a straight edge of the table. The dealer faces the player.
Twenty one is played with one or more standard decks of cards. An ace dealt to a player has a point value of either “1” or “11” at the election of the player; a face card (jack, queen or king) has a point value of “10” and each of the remaining cards (“2” through “10”) have a point value equal to what is alternatively referred to as a “pip” value or a number value. Point values of cards held by the player are added together to obtain a total point value. A total point value of cards held by the dealer is obtained in a similar manner.
After the cheques are placed within the circle, the cards are shuffled and the player and the dealer are each dealt a hand comprised of two cards. The two cards of the player's hand are dealt face-up. A first card of the dealer's hand is dealt face-down. A second card of the dealer's hand is dealt face-up. The players and dealer are dealt cards, one at a time, in a clockwise fashion beginning with a player to the dealer's most left position.
Whenever the dealer's face-up card is either an ace or has a point value of “10”, the dealer ascertains the point value of the face-down card without revealing it to the player. When the dealer's two dealt cards have a total point value of “21,” the dealer is said to have blackjack whereupon the dealer turns the face-down card face up. Similarly, when a player's two dealt cards have the total point value of “21,” the player is said to have blackjack.
When the dealer has blackjack, the dealer wins the wager with two exceptions. A first exception occurs when the dealer's face up card is an ace and the player makes what is known as an insurance bet which is typically equal to one half, or less, of the wager. When the dealer does not have blackjack, the player loses the insurance bet. Conversely, when the dealer has blackjack, the player wins the insurance bet. When the player wins, cheques representative of the wager and two and one half times the insurance bet are returned to the player.
The second exception occurs when the player has blackjack whereupon the cheques representative of the wager are returned to the player. The second exception is an example of when the player's hand and the dealer's hand have the same total point value and is referred to as a push.
When the player has blackjack and the dealer does not, the player wins the wager and is typically paid 3 to 2 on his or her wager. When neither the dealer nor the player have blackjack, the player has four options.
A first option is to have the player's hand augmented by what is called a draw card (referred to as a “hit”). The player may have successive hits until the player total point value exceeds “21.” When the total point value of a hand exceeds “21” it is said to bust. The player loses the wager when the player's hand busts. Therefore, busting is a sudden, catastrophic termination of play for the player.
A second option is not to have the player's hand augmented by the draw card (referred to as a “stand”). The player may stand at any time that the player's hand has not busted.
A third option, referred to as doubling down, permits the player to double the wager and receive one additional card.
A fourth option is available when the player's hand is comprised of two cards that are a pair, such as a pair of queens, for example. The player may split the pair into first and second hands. An additional card is dealt to the player's first hand and to the player's second hand. The player's first and second hands are then each played as described hereinbefore.
The decision to hit or stand is made with an objective of causing the total point value of the payer's hand to be closer to “21” than the total point value of the dealer's hand. It should be understood that central factors in making the decision are the dealer's face-up card and the total point value of the player's hand.
After the player stands, the dealer's face-down card is turned face-up, whereby both cards of the dealer's hand are face-up. When the total point value of the dealer's hand is less than “17,” the dealer must hit until the total point value of the dealer's hand is at least “17.” When a hit causes the dealer's hand to bust and the player's hand has not busted, the player wins the wager.
It should be understood that when an exemplary hand includes an ace and a six, for example, it is referred to as a soft “17” because the ace causes the exemplary hand to have alternative point values of “7” and “17.” Usually, the dealer's hand cannot be hit when it is the soft “17.”
When neither the player's hand nor the dealer's hand busts and the total point value of the dealer's hand exceeds the total point value of the player's hand, the dealer wins and vice versa. When there is a push, there is no winner; the cheques representative of the wager are returned to the player.